Lady Jets remain in 16th spot in NJCAA national poll

   The South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets remained in the 16^th position in this week’s National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) women’s basketball national rankings for the second week in a row.

    The Lady Jets are 20 – 2 overall and 10 -0 in the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association.  The Lady Jets were ranked 24^th in the pre-season national poll, then moved up three spots into 21^st place prior to the Thanksgiving break.  They climbed to 19^th place, and then moved up another two spots into 17^th before climbing into the 16^th position at the end of the year.  They fell to 17^th in the first poll of 2020 but climbed back into 16^th place and have remained there for the past two weeks.  

  Gulf Coast lost this week and fell into the third place position with a 16 – 1 overall record.  South Plains, Texas moved into the top spot at 20 – 0 and they are followed by Chipola, FL with a 19 – 1 performance.  Trinity Valley and Tyler Texas remained in the fourth and fifth place positions.  

   Western Nebraska, New Mexico, Shelton State, Northwest Florida State and Hutchinson, Kansas; rounded out the top 10 spots.  Jones, Seward County, Central Arizona, Florida Southwestern State and Wabash Valley are in the 11^th – 15^th spots ahead of South Georgia Technical College.

   “All of the top teams in the national rankings are great.  Any team can probably beat any other team on any given night.  It will probably take a major upset for us to move up into the top 10.  Right now we have to concentrate on our game and continue to play well so that we can win our conference, the NJCAA Region XVII tournament and the District J game to earn a spot in the national tournament,” said South Georgia Technical College Athletic Director and Lady Jets head coach James Frey. 

    Four Lady Jets are helping to keep their team in the national rankings by standing out based on their individual play on the court.  Freshman center Femme Sikuzani from the Congo is currently listed as the leading fifth rebounder in the nation.  She has a total of 249 rebounds this season in her 22 games.

   Sikuzani from Goma, DRC, is ranked in five different categories.  The 6’ 5” center is averaging a total of 11.3 rebounds per game which is currently 13^th overall in the nation. 

   She is currently listed as 15^th in the nation in offensive rebounds with an average of 4.9 per game and 23^rd in the nation in defensive rebounds with 6.4 per outing.  And she is currently ranked 26^th overall in field goal percentage shooting with a 57.6 percent success rate on her shots.

    Three other members of the Lady Jets garnered national attention for their aggressive offensive and defensive skills.   Sophomore transfer Shamari Tyson, who transferred in from Southeastern Illinois College, this season is in 22^nd place in the nation in assists per game with an average of 5.2. 

    Sophomore Yasriyyah Wazeerund-Din is currently listed as 18^th in nation in steals with an average of 3.4 per game and she moved up to 25^th in the nation in three-point percentage shooting.  She is hitting 42.9 percent of her shots from the three-point territory.

    Sophomore Anna McKendree was the fourth Lady Jet to earn recognition.  She was also listed in two different NJCAA individual stats this week.  She is ranked 24^th in the nation in steals with an average of 3.3 per game and she was also listed as 23rd^th in three-point percentage shooting.  She has hit 43.1 percent of her three-point attempts this season.

   The Lady Jets and the Jets will play at home on Saturday, January 25^th when they host Albany Technical College at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. in the Hangar on the Americus campus.